Stages Arts Initiative brings together a community of individuals

Only last year, Dreana Roberts was homeless, living at Safe Harbor in Chester County, a nonprofit recovery and relief organization.

“I had been homeless for quite a while,” Roberts said. “I couldn’t get a job and people weren’t hiring. The only thing I had left was my hands -- I had to do something.”

Roberts always loved art and experimenting with all different forms of it: colored pencil, water color, painting, and more. So when a friend told Roberts about the free art classes offered through Stages Arts Initiatives at the Community Crossroads Peer Support Center in West Chester, she decided to try it out one Tuesday.

There she found the opportunity to “work with her hands” as she met and worked with Diane Dailey, Stages’ art director, as well as other people seeking support and a sense of community.

“Diane has given me a lot of encouragement,” Roberts said. “Coming from being homeless, my spirit could be down really low. This opportunity gave me a sense of being -- a sense of myself.”

According to Dailey, “Everyone’s an artist. In school, we are taught to color inside the lines. At Stages, we bring people back to start drawing outside the lines to get in touch with feelings, ideas, and with themselves.”

Stages, whose motto says, “There are stages you stand on—and stages you go through,” was established in November of 2012, and according to Chester County Mental Health Community Liaison Tracy Behringer, one of Stages’ board members, it operates on the philosophy that “both the visual and performing arts are beneficial to everyone in every stage of life.”

Stages is currently funded by the Chester County Department of Human Services, as well as other partnership organizations, and now pursues nonprofit status as it continues to seek collaborative support from other local organizations.

Stages also offers weekly music jam sessions, led by Arnold Melton, Stages’ music director. Stages provides guitars, keyboards and drums for use during the jam sessions, although participants are also encouraged to bring their own instruments as they play together from Melton’s repertoire of rock songs and chord progressions.

“Each jam session takes on a shape of its own,” Melton said. “I lay down the structure for each session, and everything all fits together.”

The culminating event of each month is the coffeehouse show held at the HOOD (House of Original Dreams) in West Chester, which allows Stages participants the opportunity to come together as a community to showcase and enjoy each other’s talents and hard work in a positive and encouraging environment.

Although one must be 18 years or older for instruction in the weekly jam sessions and art classes, the coffeehouse shows are welcome to all ages. The music and art event will be July 24, 6:30-8:30 p.m.

“The purpose of these shows is to break down the walls that separate us so that we can see, perform, and be involved in the community,” said Nick DeSantis, the chairman of Stages’ Event Planning Committee. “It’s more of a situation where people meet to look for commonalities rather than differences.”

According to Jim Mobile, Stages’ talent coordinator, engagement with the arts offers people the opportunity to cope with life as they draw encouragement together as a community of unique individuals.

“There is always an issue that bothers you,” Mobile said. “Everyone worries and has anxiety, and we all have a habit we want to break. It might not be diagnosable, but we all have problems. Stages offers a restructuring of where you presently are.”

“We learn about ourselves as we explore ourselves,” Melton said. “Stages takes your creative aspects out of you and gets you totally involved in the creative process. It helps give you a break to deal with life. If you never get a break, then you can’t really deal with it.”

DeSantis experienced this when he himself stood upon the stage and read some of his creative writing to the audience.

“I was up there exposing something personal about myself,” DeSantis said. “It takes nerve. No matter what you’re doing, you’re exposing yourself to a lot of different people.”

“Anticipation is the adrenaline that gets you up there,” Dailey said. “We support each other as we take the next step to get up there on that stage.”

Roberts will always be thankful that she took that next step with Stages.

After she attended a few art sessions, Dailey invited her to show her artwork at the coffeehouse shows. This experience gave Roberts the idea to turn her art into note cards and stationary to sell at her own online store.

“Stages offers a very relaxing atmosphere that gives you a sense of value and a sense of accomplishment,” Roberts said. “It is a really nice, positive, encouraging setting, and it is very hopeful.”

For more information, email contact@stagesarts.org, call 610-429-1702 or visit www.stagesarts.org